General Etiquette
Lurk to start with
Browse first
Register your account
Avatars
Post on the appropriate forum
Get to know the moderators
Reporting Posts
Use the search feature
Create descriptive titles
Post your thread to just one forum
Stay on topic
Welcome newcomers
Respect our diversity
Guard your privacy
Guard others' privacy
FISO events
Commercial and charitable posts
Industry professionals
Avoid out of date threads
Posting about tragedies
Posting of images
Ignore spammers
Links
User rankings
Chairing Mini-leagues
Financial dealings with other FISO members
The number one rule of FISO is don’t be intentionally annoying; Be polite, be mature, keep your language clean and respect the opinions of others (even if you disagree). Further detailed guidelines are below. If in doubt on Forum Rules then please feel free to contact a Moderator who will be happy to help. You can see which Moderators are currently online by looking at the bottom of the
Forum Index page.
Lurk to start with
It might be intimidating at first to post a message. No problem. You're welcome to hang out and read posts until you feel comfortable. Lurk (anonymously observe) before you leap. Of course, we encourage you to join the discussions. We have a very supportive community and we welcome your contributions. Before you can post, you must register with FISO and establish a username. Your username is a unique and consistent identifier. Your username may not be a Web site or email address. If you register your username as such, your account will be closed, and you will need to reregister. If you have concerns that a new username is very close to your own, contact Admin at
admin@fiso.co.uk
Browse first
Before you post, browse the board to become familiar with the community. When you jump into a forum, do not post any comments right away. Try to read and catch up with what is going on and observe what people are saying. After you feel comfortable and think you are ready to add useful information/comments to the conversation, please do so. If you are looking for certain information you may find it has already been posted on the relevant forum so have a look through the recent topic titles and the Sticky/Announcement threads on the relevant forums or use the forums' search facility - located via the top menu bar. At the very least, please read the
Latest Topics page before posting - you may find your question/information has already recently been answered/posted.
Register your account
Go to the
registration page and fill in all of the required fields. You will be sent an email with a confirmation link which you must click to activate your account. If you do not receive this email, please check your spam folder and after 24 hours if you still have not received an email please contact
admin@fiso.co.uk.
Please keep in mind when registering your account that all of the forum rules also apply to usernames, avatar pictures and every other field we have created to allow you to personalise your own profile. You are only allowed one account, and only one person should have access to each account. Your account is your responsibility. If your account breaks the rules in any way then it may be subject to disciplinary sanctions, even if you as a person are not the one who entered the offending information.
When first registering, your account will be on probation until you have successfully made a number of posts. This means that all of your posts will have to be checked and approved by a member of the moderation team. This is mostly to prevent spam and advertising.
Avatars
We do not wish to restrict your right to display personal views, ideology, etc. but do ask that you remain respectful of others in your avatar.
Avatars that contain links will not be allowed. Avatars are subject to the FISO content standards concerning decency, obscenity, the furthering of illegal activities and offensive language. As with any postings on FISO, personal attacks are never permitted. Note that this list is not exhaustive and that the ultimate decision on the permissibility of an Avatar rests with the moderation team.
Post on the appropriate forum
There are a number of different sections within this forum - the full list is on the
Forum Index page. We appreciate that there are a large number but please try to use the appropriate forum when starting a new topic. Read the forum descriptions to determine where your post best belongs. Messages relating to a specific fantasy football game should be posted on that game's own forum and if a forum has not been set up for that game then please use the
'Other Fantasy Football Games' Forum. If posting your team line ups, e.g. for rating, guidance or advice purposes, each of the major game forums has a Rate My Team (RMT) forum for specific team advice/queries.
Player or team news (e.g. injury news) should be posted in the
Team News forum. Football topics not related to Fantasy Football should be posted on the
Football Talk forum. Many other major sports have their own Fantasy Forums. We also have a
Betting forum, a
Health and Fitness forum and a
News and Politics Forum amongst many others. Misplaced threads will be relocated by moderators.
Get to know the moderators
Our volunteer moderators are responsible for welcoming new members and assisting all members. They have been screened and were selected to serve based on their judgement and ability to uphold the FISO rules. If you have questions, contact a moderator. Moderators are also labelled as such by their username being in green or blue and a full list can be found
here. Moderators contribute to threads just as other members do. They are held to the same standards when posting as any other member. They do moderate the forums and look for rule violations. They may delete and edit posts and close threads without notice. They may discipline and suspend members who fail to adhere to the rules (see Moderation Policy for more information). Moderators understand that the various FISO forums have slightly different tones. What's acceptable in one forum may be considered out of line on another.
Reporting posts
It is not possible for moderators to read every post in every thread, so we request that should any member come across something that they consider to be breaking any of our rules to report the post(s) using the red exclamation mark
to the right of the end of each post. After reporting a post in this way then please ignore that post entirely. Do not respond to it or reproduce it, as doing so will risk sanctions against yourself, especially if your response escalates the situation or causes any other problems which the moderation team then have to deal with.
Do not use the reporting feature just because you dislike a member or their argument. The report function is only there for when a post breaks these rules or is in any other way offensive, indecent or improper.
Use the search feature
Before starting a thread, use the
search feature to see if there's a recent thread on your topic. Many questions come up repeatedly on FISO. If you're wondering about a specific player in Fantasy Premier League, for example, there's a good chance a thread - or ten - already exists. The search link is located in the navigation bar near the bottom of the Forums page. Keeping information on the same topic confined to as few threads as possible helps members quickly find the information they need.
Create descriptive titles
Make thread titles as specific and descriptive as possible. Sometimes members will start a thread with a very general title such as, "Guess what?" or "He’s only gone and done it again". Be as helpful as possible in your thread titles. The thread starter can also edit their first post and change the title of a thread, which may be useful when the thread is based on information which is later found to be misleading or incorrect.
Post your thread to just one forum
Don't post the same thread more than once. Our members read many forums, and weeding through the same message in multiple forums can be frustrating. Duplicate threads will be deleted, combined or locked.
Stay on topic
Please do try and keep to the topic of the thread. If you want to raise a new issue then consider whether a new topic is more appropriate.
Welcome newcomers
FISO is friendly, informative, fun and thriving. When newcomers arrive, welcome them. By helping folks learn, you provide a shining example of what this community is about, and you help ensure that FISO continues to flourish. New members may not understand FISO and its history as well as you do. Remember we were all newbies once. If you notice a member, newcomer or not, asking a question that has been answered previously or is answered in the forum Rules & Guidelines, please be patient. If you wish to reply, do so in a helpful manner, avoiding simply saying: "Do a search."
Respect our diversity
FISO members come from all walks of life and all parts of the world. We are as diverse in our make up as we are alike in our passion for sport & fantasy sports. Because we all bring a unique perspective to the forum, our collective experience is broadened, and we gain new insights. Our diversity demands that we respect each other. Due to the inherent constraints of the Internet, humour, sarcasm, language and slang can be easily misinterpreted - especially when crossing cultural boundaries. When posting a message, pay extra care to how it might be interpreted. And when you come across a post that offends you, read it with an eye toward giving the member the benefit of the doubt. If you have an issue with a post, please contact the member privately or contact a moderator. Do not make a situation worse by publicly responding.
Guard your privacy
Keep personal information personal. If you want to share your personal information with another member of the community, do so via e-mail or private message. FISO respects members' privacy. None of your personal information will be posted on the forums unless you post it yourself.
Guard others' privacy
Do not post names, addresses, phone numbers or e-mails of other people without their express consent. This information will be removed by moderators. Posts that ask members to submit personal information will be removed. This includes, but is not limited to, communications that ask for personal information submitted via e-mail, mail, telephone, surveys, or research studies unless this request is specifically approved in advance by site administration.
FISO events
Many FISO members get together socially, and there are often FISO events throughout the world. Members may plan and announce events on that forum. Events announced on FISO must be open to all community members.
Commercial and charitable posts
a) Commercial posts containing promotional messages for commercial products or services - including but not limited to Internet sites and business advertisements are generally prohibited and will be removed. However admin is willing to accept requests, particularly from members that contribute positively to the forum, so if you have a product or service that you would like to advertise, please contact admin
b) Charitable posts. From time to time members will link to a charity donation/organization that they are collecting funds for. Any posts soliciting charitable contributions must be made in a friendly environment and should not be posted more than once. Any members deemed to ask for charity donations in a threatening or heavy handed way; or to be asking for donations to a charity that go against the T&Cs of FISO will see the post removed, with possible disciplinary actions.
Avoid out of date threads
Unless there is a compelling reason, avoid bumping threads that have not been posted in for a long time. Often the information is out-dated and it can lead confusion. This action also clogs the forums, making it difficult to find current threads.
Posting about tragedies
a) FISO has had its share of tragedies, having experienced the death of several active and lapsed members in the past. We continue to celebrate their contributions through posts on FISO. These matters are always personal and should be treated with respect.
b) When famous people die or wider notable tragedies happen we ask that all members remain respectful, no matter the true feelings towards the person or group of people involved. Any disrespectful posts shall be removed and the member involved can be subject to the disciplinary process.
Posting of images
FISO welcomes members to embed non-animated images in certain forums. All images must meet community standards and must convey relevant on-topic information. Images should be as small as needed to get the point across without being overbearing. Images that are offensive, irrelevant or violate the T&Cs will be removed and members posting such images may be subject to disciplinary action including, but not limited to, loss of image-posting privileges in one or more forums. Members are responsible for the content of images embedded in their posts whether it is the image intended to be and/or originally posted or not.
Ignore spammers
Spam is a blight upon the face of the net. Nobody likes it. However, it is hard to avoid. Despite our best efforts, you will very occasionally see spam on the forums. Complaining about spam in public increases noise, but not signal. It may make you feel better, but it doesn't help. Report the spam post using the 'report post' button.
Links
Links to relevant news sources are encouraged. In particular, when posting injury news please provide the source for the information. If you wish to post links to your Fantasy Sports related website on the FISO forums then please first provide a link back to
http://www.fiso.co.uk
User rankings
FISO operates a system of user titles based on post count. For details on the username ranking descriptions please read
this thread.
Chairing mini-leagues
Please note the 5th post in this thread when deciding whether to join or set up a Mini-League where a prize may be won by the Chairman of the mini-league.
Financial dealings with other FISO members
Any financial dealings (e.g. ticket sales, prize M/Ls, holiday apartment letting, etc.) are not sanctioned by FISO. Both sides of any deal are taking the full risk themselves and that post count, length of membership or status does in no way indicate trustworthiness of a FISO member.
If you have any questions as to whether something is acceptable, send a private message to a moderator.